The New Gullivers: Shaping the Mindscapes, Soulscapes, and Landscapes of a New World

Davy Jones’ Locker…Aladdin’s Lamp…Trade-winds to enticing ports…Shape-shifting dragons at the edge of the world….. .  what if all these adventures were just waiting for you to stumble upon in some as yet unexplored land far away – or maybe right in your own back yard?

Seasoned traveler, commentator and entrepreneur Stephen Banick cleverly bridges past and present by encouraging us to become the “New Gullivers” – committed explorers of the “New World,” the Age of Globalization.  True travel, Banick tells us, is much more than hop-scotching over the latitudes and longitudes of Landscapes; it also requires navigating the contours of Mindscapes and Soulscapes…

Banick whets the reader’s appetite for a whole feast of ambitious inner and outer opportunities for expanding our mental, physical and spiritual horizons.   In a world ever-more defined by colliding tectonic plates and crashing tsunami waves, he appeals to the secret desire of “Everyman” to Feel better, Have more, and Be more.  In this first of seven cleverly wrought books that comprise an introduction to The Gulliver Project, Banick & Co. challenge us to “lift the world” by first changing ourselves; and he remind us that we have everything we need to make this daunting age “The Best of Times.”

Detailed Table of Contents

• Guide’s Log:   A commentary by a mythical modern day Gulliver    
  • Ship’s Bearing, Current Port, Current Local Events, Current Regional Events, Current World Events
  • Your Chronicler, Muse, Bard 
    • Our histories, terrain, and cultural stories are Treasure Troves.  We shall probe our rich folklore and scan the horizon through story, joke, fable, game, contest, dialogue, travel, & arts
  • Your Guide, Cartographer & Helmsman
    • The latitudes and longitudes of the Age of Globalization are called Mindscapes, Soulscapes, and Landscapes. We’ll navigate through or around them, recognizing opportunities, ignoring mirages, and addressing our fears
  • Your Ambassador, Messenger, & Catalyst
    • We live in a time of crashing tectonic plates and raging seas.  We’ll examine the prisms, doctrines, and elephants that separate us and the underlying currents that bond us; we’ll ponder filling reservoirs from rivulets, slaying dragons, and accessing the “Inner Kingdom” that the Wise Ones have spoken of
      
      
• The New Gullivers:   Sailing with purpose, conviction, open minds and open hearts;
  • Our “hugeness” and “smallness” depend on circumstance – and attitude
  • Navigating the Doldrums, the Trades, the Horse Latitudes, and the Westerlies
  • Latitudes and longitudes shrink as we grow
  • “There be Dragons”: Monsters at the edge of the world
  • Jumping through hoops never goes out of style
  • Climbing in the Crow’s Nest
  • Haggling over cracked eggs and high-heeled shoes
  • Our anchors and ballast can protect us – or throttle us
  • We’re all ambassadors – whether we like it or not
  • Davy Jones’ Locker and Pieces of Eight
  • Age, Wisdom, and Happiness are awkward bedfellows
  • Enlightenment: Yawn…
  • Floating in the clouds isn’t very grounded
  • History:  the lie most commonly agreed upon
  • Beauty isn’t skin deep

• The New Ships:  Faster, stronger, lighter ways to make trans-cultural connections:  and “Feel better… Have more … and Be more.”
  • Cell phones, PDA’s, and the Expanding Web
  • Scopes (Tele, Micro)
  • Ships, Planes, and Trains
  • Nano-technology
  • Interfaith alliances
  • The Government/Industry tango
    
    
• Worst of Times, Best of Times:  Tilting the scales to opportunity, advantage, & “meaning”
  • Stating the obvious:  “There be Monsters” (global warming, genocide, terrorism, environmental degradation, immigration upheaval, etc…) …BUT…
  • Plotting a powerful new course:  Never have so many resources and tools existed to enable humankind to:  Feel Better …Have More… and Be More..
    
    
• A Call for Captains and Crew:  Successful navigations in a challenging, rewarding age
  • Getting our passport together, drawing our maps, adjusting the sails, grabbing the tiller, posting our chronicles, choosing our sponsors, and going easy on the grog
    
    
• The New Gullivers’ “Charter”:  The Cycle of Awakening
  • An introduction to universal behaviors and phenomena that we can observe, learn from, and utilize to free ourselves from unhealthy fears and empower ourselves to live fully in the confusing, rapidly changing world.  Introduction to second book in the series.